Tropique is a beautiful film inside and out. Directed by Edouard Salier, this French-language, subtly futuristic film captivated me with words and visuals that were like poetry. Not only is the film excellently written and directed, but its equally beautiful cast also gave moving performances that are sticking with me long after viewing. Tropique is a melodrama with the essence of science fiction. It is set in the near future, but there are few societal markers of this throughout the film, so the film ends up being more so timeless. The blend between science fiction and drama is seamless.

Tropique follows two brothers — Tristan (Louis Peres) and Lazaro (Pablo Coto) — who attend a highly competitive program designed to find the best young candidates for a space voyage to a relatively nearby star. They are at the top of the class and spend their days studying and training. One night while they are doing breath training in a local lake, Lazaro sees a strange object crash, and soon, a toxic substance overtakes the lake, injuring him and nearly killing his brother, Tristan. Unable to compete, Lazaro must balance continuing to compete alone with the survivor’s guilt stemming from the unfortunate event.

The familial saga of Tropique is split into several digestible chapters. The languidly paced and carefree ambiance of the first chapter of Tropique belied the emotional intensity found in the rest of the film. It is a science fiction film with pacing on the slow side, I might compare this aspect to something like Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. And also like Interstellar, Tropique‘s catalyst for action were science fiction elements, at its center, Tropique seemed to be a family drama that spotlighted the ebb and flow of a familial bond, though in this case, between brothers. Furthermore, the cinematography uses darker lighting, making the film seem gloomy as if a dark cloud was looming over the film, adding to the emotional uneasiness of the film.

The film was shot beautifully — Salier is not only a director but he is a visual poet, as the framing of this film was excellent and revealed Salier’s artistic eye. Whether close-up or far/wide-angle shots, I felt immersed in the events of the film. I am hard-pressed to call Tropique a body horror film when the deformity is framed as a handicap for much of the film, but I will say that the special effects makeup design and application were truly startling to look at as the makeup was done so very realistically; it was excellently grotesque. The story calls for the infected character to hide his face quite often, but the effect is frightening when filmed head-on. Otherwise, the science fiction element is so subtle that I forgot the impetus for the film’s events was some wayward alien asteroid.

Director Edouard Salier created a movie imbued with a level of emotion that is sometimes hard to capture in film. Tropique has an interesting and balanced flow, with emotionally intense events taking up most of the time, however Salier sneaks in carefree and humorous, reflecting the stark realities and bittersweetness of life. Furthermore, the musical score was excellent, which I would also liken to music found in Interstellar, capturing that orchestral type of electronic music. 

At its end, Tropique delivers one final gut punch, posing a ‘would you or wouldn’t you’ question to the audience to mull over — and I appreciate a film that leaves you with food for thought. Had the film truly focused on one person it might have felt more like an existential journey, however I enjoyed the examination of each character — even the side characters were wonderfully and humanely crafted. I cared about each and every character that graced the screen, which made each shortcoming experienced by the characters land just as hard on me as it did on the character it was happening to. Tropique is a truly heartbreaking journey, the nightmare of a dream deferred.

MOVIE RATING — 8 out of 10